The Guy I Met At The Arcade
by Shadow in Midnight
Summary: At the arcade, I seemed to have fallen in love with a rather attractive stranger...! Seriously, who falls in love with someone you just met at the arcade? All that seems to link us is a lock, key, and shared memories. In the end, all we can hope for is our next fated meeting, then maybe spending Christmas alone wouldn't be boring, next time. Rated T for language


~I don't own anything, blah blah blah. The arcade here is kinda a mix between Japan's and Singapore's arcades-Japan's arcades (the ones that I went to at least) were mostly claw machines on the first floor, or at the front of the store and pretty bright. The claw machines themselves are also easy to catch-the grip is hard, but the prizes are like, piled? for some. Others are on a tray/platform where you need to grab the ring to slide them down. Or they're balancing on 2 bars and you need to get them off, since the openings are usually very wide, from what I remember-stretching from about half to the whole machine.

As for Singapore, the arcades are usually dim and claw machines are very scarce. For those with something like an entryway, they're lined around the entrance, and more games at the back. Almost always the standard for each arcade has basketball shooting machines, air hockey, and instead of coins, we use cards with credits. We buy and top up the cards at the front desk, or at the automated machines. For prizes it's usually based on tickets. Or, for the arcade I was at recently, e-tickets. And as said here, the claw machines adopt a 'grab-drop-move' method. And the music is always really loud...it can give me a headache if I'm feeling slightly ill. So this sums up the arcade descriptions.

And in this fic, Amu is about 16 and Ikuto is about 18~

The blasting music assaulted us from all sides as they stepped into the dim arcade. Claw machines lined the entrance, full of no doubt hard-to-get toys, interrupted by the occasional notes-to-coin changer and a front counter. Upstairs, the loud music of the game machines pounded through, no doubt deafening a person for a while.

Yaya let out a loud cheer as she dragged Kairi to view some claw machines, Rima adopting a cooler look as Nagi dragged her upstairs with a gentle smile. Kukai had raced Utau up the stairs, both nearly bowling over patrons in their hurry, leaving Amu all alone.

The pinkette sighed and looked around the arcade with well hidden interest. She had never really been to arcades, especially since their father thought it was a 'bad influence' on his two 'sparrows'. Really, the only time she had been to an arcade was when she was with her friends, who were now paired up with their partners. Not that the pinkette really minded; her friends were happy together. Although it did mean that she was often left alone, being the only single Guardian-even Tadase had a girlfriend from another school ever since they'd broke up.

She strolled along the machines, finally climbing up the stairs to the upper floor when she came across a teen-or was he a man? He was too lanky to tell-expertly playing a alien shooting game with plenty of ease. He held machine gun, the butt of it pressed into the hollow of shoulder, one hand grabbing the pistol grip, the other holding the barrel, hitting the bottom of the clip with controlled force every once in a while. Amu stared at the man, who was wasting no bullets as he shot down crawling aliens. He was a one-man army, mowing down large groups with barely any effort wasted with a smirk on his face.

Finally, after what seemed like too long, he lost all his HP. Amu applauded slowly, walking towards him with a grin on her face. "Not bad, hotshot," she called, picking up the heavy gun and examining it as she produced a few coins from her jeans pocket. "You wanna play together?"

The man smirked and tugged a few coins loose from his tight, form fitting jeans. "Who knows? You might be the one to die first, _pinky._" Amu let out a small growl from the back of her throat when she heard that nickname. She slotted in the coins and all but slammed the start button in her anger. "You're on, _Bluebeard._" The man shot her another good-looking smirk and rolled his eyes, doing the same, but with a certain smugness in his actions. "Bluebeard? Seriously? Of all things, Bluebeard? I don't even have a beard, do I?"

Amu rolled her eyes and shot 'Chapter Mode' before he could get a word in. "Who cares, maybe you have blue hair somewhere _else _on you?" His smirk slipped into a grin as he shook his head in amusement, shooting down the first of the aliens which were, well, lumbering, their way towards the pair. It was the start of a beautiful friendship. Or, well, as far as one could call shouting things like, "I HATE SHOTGUNS! WHY THE SHIT WERE WE GIVEN SHOTGUNS?!" (that was Amu) and "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?! STOP MAKING ME SAVE YOUR BLOODY ASS!" (now this was Bluebeard, as Amu nicknamed him) over the blaring noise of the arcade.

Finally, after the pair had finished almost half the game without drawing much attention from the other patrons in the arcade, strangely enough, both were sweating buckets, hollow of their shoulders aching from pressing the butt of the gun, and throats sore from yelling over the loud noise of the machine.

Amu turned towards him, outstretched hand and grin in place. "Good game, Bluebeard. What'cha wanna do next?" He shrugged and slung his bag over his other shoulder, grabbing her hands in a firm grip. "Up for air hockey, Pinky?" And when Amu grinned, the deal was sealed, and the competition was back on.

X

Almost 2 hours had passed, and the sky was turning dark. Damned winter and longer nights, Amu had cursed. They made their way downstairs, only to walk past a machine filled with locks and keys-specifically, golden lock and keys, each bearing the main design of a white four-leaved clover. A grin overtook Amu's face as she tugged the man unconsciously over to the said brightly lit-till-it-burns-your-eyes machine. As he approached it, he hissed rather loudly and flung his hand over his eyes. "God Pinky, this shit's bright!" The pinkette only laughed and pressed her face to the plastic childishly. "Hey, I want that. Looks fun." The teen stared at her before rolling his eyes and letting out a loud sigh. One too loud to be real. "Get it yourself, then, Pinky." She puffed her cheeks (looking absolutely adorable to him, if the slight flush of color on his face was any indication) and turned back to the machine, her hood flying as she did so. She dug out a few coins from her jeans once more before slotting them into the machine, trying to pick a lock from the large pile balancing precariously over the wide opening.

She was so absorbed that she didn't notice the teen walking away from her. She was too busy aiming for the lock that she didn't hear the sound of coins tumbling into metal a few machines away from her. And when she missed the lock, using the last of her coins, she was held in place by a sudden weight on her head.

"What the hell?!"

The weight moved slightly, the voice muffled as he spoke. "Stop moving, you're doing it all wrong..." He inserted a few coins as the machine sprang to life once more, the annoyingly cheery music alerting all patrons that another claw machine was stealing another sucker's money.

He moved the joystick with sure movements, finally pressing the 'catch' button with a smug face. The claw barely scratched the surface, closing in on something, and finally it appeared-

-holding a lock in its grasp, moving slowly in jerky movements and dropping it into the opening for the prize.

Amu squealed loudly as she bent down in a flash (bumping Bluebeard's head on the plastic in the process) and retrieved the lock. She jumped around for a while before finally realizing that Bluebeard was yes, indeed there, and saw her freaking out, and bent over laughing. A blush as bright as her hair covered her face as she cleared her throat and stuffed the lock into her hoodie pocket. "Pass me a few coins, I'll get one for you too," she finally mumbled.

He gasped for breath and tried to pull himself up, only to start laughing once more and receive an _extremely _painful whack on his head for doing so. "Arse," she muttered darkly, snatching the coins from his jeans pocket and stuffing them into the machine, all the while huffing about 'blue haired assholes'.

Once more, she maneuvered the claw over a lock, only for him to appear behind her once more (only having half recovered from her smack) and wrapping his hands around her waist, whispering into her ear: "The key, not the lock." She blushed a deep red once more, and with a loud scream which was barely a whisper, hit him once more, leaving him in a smarting ball at the side of the machine.

The claw dropped down with slow, jerky movements, and barely scratched the surface of the pile, picking and releasing a key onto the pile. With a loud swear, Amu deposited the last of the coins and repeated the action, this time the key dropping onto the pile-

-where it ended up knocking another key on the way down, which slid into the opening destined for prize collection.

With another loud cheer, Amu picked up the key and handed it to the teen (who was still curled up in pain beside the machine) with a bright smile on her face. "Here you go." He stood once more to his full height and removed it from her hands with a slight smirk. "Well, you did get this with my money, so..." he teased gently, a chuckle forming from his lips.

Amu involuntarily shuddered at the sound of his chuckle-god it was so low and sexy-and crossed her arms under her chest, pushing the pair up just a _tiny _bit. She let a pout take over her lips before dropping her arms and laughing, almost colliding into him as she did so.

"Ah, god, you're impossible. So, what do you want me to do for you? I have to leave soon, though, it's getting late."

He shrugged and leaned his weight to one side, adopting an expression of deep thought. His eyes brightened slightly as a hint of a devious smirk took over his lips. "Then how about, the next time we meet, you tell me your name? I'll do the same, then, _Pinky."_ And with that, he bent down and pecked next to her mouth, slinking away as quickly and silently as a cat as Amu flushed a deep red and slapped a hand over her mouth.

As she considered running after him to smack him, she decided that taking care of her rapidly beating heart and sinking feeling in her stomach at the thought of not seeing him again were more important.

"That stupid perverted cat, making me fall in love with him..."

~2 years later, on Christmas day~

_It's Christmas, and I'm doing my thesis, of all things," _Amu mused, sipping on a mug of hot chocolate in a cozy but crowded cafe, watching couples, all bundled up, strolling around hand in hand outside. Not for the first time, she'd laughed at the thought of spending a freezing Christmas outside with your other half. The only reason she was at the cafe was because she didn't like staying at home alone; it was too quiet to be productive. She fingered the necklace she had on-the lock _he _had gotten from the claw machine for her-and pushed away the sinking feeling in her stomach before starting to work on her thesis once more.

A few minutes after tapping away on her laptop, a deep voice which sent shivers down her spine spoke to her. "May I sit here?" She looked up and released a smirk which was oh-so-similar to his. "Of course you may, Bluebeard," she joked, picking up her chocolate in favor of returning to her thesis. He set down his own mug of chocolate and a cake slice-a chocolate cake slice (of all things, in this weather, Amu mused) and an instrument case, and sat down gracefully in the plush chair across her.

"How did you recognize me?" She asked, saving her thesis and shutting the laptop screen firmly. He smirked, gesturing to her necklace with his mug. "Simple. Your necklace." And as an afterthought, he added: "Your hair; it's a natural pink. Not very common, you know? It's easy to tell since your roots are pink, too."

Amu rolled her eyes before waving her hand lazily in mid air. "Where's yours? The key, I mean." He chuckled and held up his instrument case, the key dangling from a keychain. Amu nodded, attempting to swallow the anticipation after a slightly too long to be comfortable pause; she was going to know his name. And if she played her cards right, they just may become friends...and hopefully, more _than _friends.

"Well, I'll start first," he finally broke the silence after staring at the crowd outside the glass. "Nice to meet you, I'm Tsukiyomi Ikuto."

"Ikuto..." The name rolled of her tongue in sweet circles, bringing a grin to her childish face. Her words brought a smirk to his face as his smirk grew wider. "So what's yours, Pinky?"

With a last pout, she finally knew he could drop the nickname. "Amu. Hinamori Amu. So stop calling me Pinky!" He shrugged and tried out her name. "Amu...Hinamori Amu. Pinky. (She nearly threw his fork at him) Amu...koi. I like Amu-koi best, so that's your name from now on."

She almost threw something in his smirking face but decided it was too handsome to deface, so she sipped her hot chocolate instead. In the end, she settled on a verbal insult. "Bastard of a perverted cat..." He grinned and took her hand gently, nearly making her spit her drink in the most un-ladylike manner possible.

"Anyway, we're going to be together soon, right?"

If him taking her hand didn't make her choke, this certainly did.

"There's a saying, if the key fits the lock, we're destined to be together." Amu highly doubted it, but if it made them more than friends, then...! Still, she allowed him to lightly tug on the lock sitting peacefully on her chest, and he took the key and slowly slotted it into the keyhole, where it turned and unlocked it with a smooth _click._

Amu's hands flew to her mouth as she let loose a soft "Oh, god." Ikuto, on the other hand, looked delighted and grabbed her hand even tighter than before, a happy smile spreading on his face. And she realized, it was the first real smile she saw from him.

"Hey, Amu?"

His deep voice snapped her out of her thoughts, his voice even lower and softer than before. It was too sexy...!

"Y-yeah?" She managed to croak out softly in an extremely un-ladylike way. Oh god, had she just disgusted him? She surely did! In the end, he only chuckled softly as pressed her hands to his lips. They were soft, slightly chapped and oh-so-warm. Shit, she was falling too hard for him.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

Amu blushed a deep red once more, struggling to find her tongue as she attempted to answer. "Can I...take it as a yes?" A moment of frantic nodding later, Ikuto had cupped her face and with his lean body, reached across the table and pressed his lips to hers. In an ohmygod moment for Amu, fireworks seemed to spark between them as nothing else mattered. It was only them and them alone in that single cafe, over hot chocolate and cake and a forgotten thesis, in their own world-and _damn it felt so good._

They separated, and Amu flushed an even deeper red and ducked her burning face into her hands as she let out a slightly loud squeal. Ikuto smiled across her and ruffled her hair; his cheeks tinted the tiniest bit pink and a slightly dreamy look in his eyes.

"So, we, we're..." Amu spluttered helplessly, attempting to re-start the logical part of her mind which was shut down the moment she smelt Ikuto's manly cologne. "We're dating," Ikuto confirmed for her, stuffing the rest of his cake in his mouth as he turned to a still-steaming-and-attempting-to-comprehend-the-fact-that-they-were-dating Amu. "Come on, let's go," he smiled gently, Amu quickly packing her laptop in slightly jerky movements, Ikuto taking advantage of her state to wrap her scarf around her neck and leaving the cafe together, ignoring all the freaking out fans at their kiss.

By the time Amu had collected her senses, they were already in the snow, hand in hand, and Amu wondered why she used to laugh at the thought of spending Christmas outside with your other half, freezing. Because, no matter how cold it was, spending it next to someone you loved was so warm and comfortable that you never want to let go.

Amu giggled and squeezed Ikuto's hand, cuddling slightly into his side as they walked. "Thanks," she mumbled, her voice muffled by the scarf which was wrapped around her neck, the lock peeping underneath it. Ikuto grinned and slung his arm around her, pulling her in closer as his fingers toyed with her ear. "I love you too, Pinky."

~10 years later, a few days after Christmas~

"Yoru, time to go to bed!" Amu called, searching high and low for their son. Ikuto appeared from behind the stairs, a splitting image save for yellow instead of blue eyes on his back. If he was shrunken into a 3 year old, that is. The child pouted childishly, making both parents exchange a knowing look and laugh.

"Come on baby, time to go to bed. I'll read you a bedtime story, okay?" Amu cooed, lifting the said child from Ikuto's grip onto her hip as she climbed up the stairs, Ikuto following behind and making faces at Yoru. Without looking back, Amu chided her husband. "Stop making him so excited before bed, darling. You know what happens if he's too excited." Ikuto laughed and rolled his eyes. "I know, anything happens and I'll take care of it."

"What bedtime story do you want, Yoru?"

The child thought for a second before smiling brightly. "How mama and papa met!" Both parents exchanged knowing looks before commencing their story of how they met. Excluding the details of the game they were playing, of course. And the cursing. It was a well repeated story, one that Yoru knew by heart. But he still loved it.

A few minutes later, when Yoru was tucked in and asleep, Amu turned accusingly on Ikuto. "The lock and key fate thing was fake, wasn't it? Any key could have opened any lock in that machine." Ikuto raised his hands in mock surrender. "I wanted it to be romantic, and that was my best bet. Anyway..." he grabbed Amu by her forearms and pressed her to the wall, sealing their lips in a heated kiss. "It worked out well in the end, didn't it?"

Amu smacked Ikuto lightly before running her fingers through his hair, pulling him deeper into the kiss. That night, Amu could have sworn Yoru might have heard what happened, since he started making weird gagging noises whenever Ikuto and Amu showed a slight display of affection for each other.

~The End of The Guy I Met At The Arcade~

"I wasn't planning on loving you, but I'm glad I did."

~Unknown

God, my shoulders are starting to hurt XD Longest I've written in probably one sitting, seriously. This was longer then I thought it'll be...

As for the inspiration, this was pretty much real. Of course, only the start. But only a tiny little bit. So my friends and I went out recently, and we went to an arcade before heading back home. So I spotted this machine I liked to play at-it's a Japanese Rhythm Music game, I can't remember the name. It's basically this circle with buttons all around, and plays Japanese Music. It uses the buttons and touch screen to work, it's really fun. Anyway.

So there was this guy playing there, and he was really good. Since my friends didn't want to play with me (they wanted to play another game, the bastards) I played with the guy instead. I had tons of fun. So I thought of this fic...what happens if they became more than friends, or had the promise to tell each other their names when they met again? Since meeting again is like...one in a million thing, it would be quite romantic, don't you think?

I know there's very little mention of the rest of the guardians-let's just say I was lazy...which I am. Please? XD

Anyway so this became a Christmas fic cuz seriously, I'm too lazy and I don't have enough time to complete another fic DX I've got a Valentine's fic coming up though, so stay tuned! Hope you liked this~


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